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Early morning rainfall puts Mumbai under water
As heavy rain lashed the city on Friday since around 4am, waterlogging was reported in at least 26 spots (eight each in Island city and eastern suburbs and 10 in western suburbs)
As heavy rain lashed the city on Friday since around 4am, waterlogging was reported in at least 26 spots (eight each in Island city and eastern suburbs and 10 in western suburbs). These include Dadar TT, Hindmata, Gandhi Market, Sion, Kurla subway, LBS Road, RCF Colony, Chembur and Anushakti Nagar.
In the westerns suburbs, waterlogging was reported at Andheri, Milan and Dahisar subways, Khar station, Link Road (Bandra and Khar), Hub Mall on Western Express Highway and Oberoi Mall in Goregaon.
On Friday early morning, over 250 citizens residing on the banks of Mithi River were taken to safe locations, as it crossed the danger mark. By afternoon, however, they were allowed to go back home, as the water level receded.
Areas such as Dadar, Kurla, Wadala, Bandra, Andheri and Chembur received over 120mm of rainfall resulting in waterlogging in the areas.
According to BMC officials, between 4am and 9am on Friday, most areas in the city received over 100mm of rainfall. According to the data provided by BMC, the Island city reported 55mm of rainfall during these five hours, while the western suburbs reported 143 mm of rainfall. The eastern suburbs reported over 135 mm of rainfall. BMC data further revealed that the highest rainfall (186 mm) was reported in H-East ward (Bandra East, Santacruz East, Bandra-Kurla Complex), while the second highest rainfall was recorded in Chembur at 175mm.
In the western suburbs, Andheri, Goregaon and Jogeshwari also reported over 120 mm of rainfall.
In the city, the lowest rainfall (28mm) was reported in Churchgate, Colaba and Cuffe Parade, followed by Peddar Road and Malabar Hill that received 36mm of rainfall.
Local train services were also affected on Friday morning as tracks were waterlogged at Sion, Kurla and Chunabhatti railway stations. The three stations fall in L and F North wards, where more than 110mm of rainfall was reported between 4 am and 9 am.
Hindmata and Gandhi Market, the two areas that witness waterlogging every year, also went under water despite the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) setting up huge dewatering pumps and underground silos. The water receded faster at Hindmata but at Gandhi Market, it took around three hours after the rainfall to stop to drain out the water. Due to this, traffic movement in the area was also affected.
Nikhil Desai, a civic activist from the area, said, “On Friday morning, there was waterlogging despite BMC setting up pumps. They had said they would use in the pumps during heavy rainfall, but on Friday it took around three hours for in the water to be drained out of Gandhi Market. After spending so much, this should not happen.”
BMC said waterlogging was reported because these are low lying areas and owing to the intensity of rainfall in the five-hour span.
Additional municipal commissioner P Velrasu said, “Both the projects at Hindmata and Gandhi Market are very much successful. At Hindmata, water was drained out by 9am, but at Gandhi Market it took us around three hours as the work has not been completed. The situation will get better in the coming days as we complete the work at both sites. We need to first collect the water: it has to get accumulated post and then we drain it out. The roads have to be motor-able, for which we are working hard.”
BMC started operating two of the six newly installed underground dewatering pumps at Hindmata, and all four pumps at Gandhi Market on Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Road during the heavy downpour this week, bringing relief in the chronic waterlogging spots to some extent. The entire project consists of constructing underground water-holding silos to do away with logged water in a lesser amount of time compared to five or six hours.
Meanwhile, Mumbai mayor Kishori Pednekar visited several areas that were waterlogged, including the area around on Western Express Highway in Santacruz East. She directed BMC officials and Metro authorities to fix the drainage system that got disturbed due to Metro works. The mayor also directed public works department officials to look into the issue as the service road is under their jurisdiction.
Santacruz resident Gautam Rao said, “There was heavy rainfall for around three hours, leading to waterlogging on Link Road in Santacruz and Bandra. The Gazdhar Bandh area was also flooded. This has never happened in past three years. BMC needs to figure out what is wrong with the drains and why is an area like Link Road also getting waterlogged.”
